"What are you smiling about?" Xena asked, scowling.

Eve beamed back at her mother.

"The world is changing, Evie, and Mummy doesn't like it." Which was a silly thing to say to Eve, whose birth had set a lot of those changes in motion, but Xena didn't care. And the happy Eve was taking no offense. She gurgled, and waved her arms.

"That's easy for you to say."

Xena walked down the long marble halls, carrying Eve in her arms because for some reason that morning it had occurred to her that soon the child would be too big to carry like this. So she and Eve walked to Nebula's audience chamber, greeted with smiles and nods from everyone they met. Eve returned every grin and every wave. Xena was too preoccupied to notice, save that there seemed to be an awful lot of happy people around this morning. Gods knew why.

As if she didn't have enough to worry about already, now Gabrielle had to go and pull this. Xena was frankly not surprised--she'd been expecting it someday--but as she'd told Gabrielle, it was just that this wasn't the time. Now it was going to raise an additional complication with Nebula, and things with Nebula were complicated enough as is. And the Queen and Gabrielle already didn't get along very well. Maybe now they will, Xena thought before she could stop herself, now that they have something in common.

Eve laughed, and clapped her hands.

"Oh, not you, too."

Yes, she definitely had to sit Joxer down and have a talk with him. Soon.

But later, she decided as she nodded to the Guards standing outside the audience chamber. They pulled the doors open for her and she walked in.

"Good morning," said Nebula absently. She was poring over an unrolled scroll on a table full of them, as well as some odd objects; stacks of sheets of parchment, bound together at one side. "How do you think the celebration went?"

"I didn't see any signs of trouble. From those who were there, anyway. I don't know how many Houses sent representatives."

"All of them. Joxer counted them off. And the houses with the greatest enmity to the Lion House, the Leopard and the Bull, sent more than anyone. As near as I can figure, Joxer was right--he told me about a maneuver they do in Athens, where you can get your enemies on your side, just so long as they see you siding with them against your own...allies." She sighed and rolled the scroll up. "Do you know how long it's been since there's been a traitor executed? Nobody even remembers the procedure any more."

Xena sat down. "Maybe that means the procedure is outdated," she said carefully. "Did Joxer tell you? In Athens, they hardly ever execute. Instead, they banish for life. It's a fate worse than death," she couldn't keep from adding, "for Athenians, anyway."

Nebula shook her head. "No. I can't do it. As much as I want to. The Houses are screaming for blood, and so are the people. The Houses and the people agreeing on something! These are interesting times, Xena."

"You didn't want to rule this way."

"But I want to rule. If I don't give on this one thing, I could lose on everything else. And he is a traitor. Much as I don't want to admit it, he is a traitor...and he did try to kill me."

"Yes." Xena sighed. "And we still don't know if he acted alone. We..." She heard the door open, and looked around. The Guards were letting Joxer in. He wasn't wearing the saffron shirt, Xena noted with some relief. He was back to wearing that same kind of plain off-white linen shirt that Gabrielle habitually wore, workmanlike and practical and, to the Sumerians' eyes, unattractively plain. Surprising, now she thought of it. Why wouldn't Joxer be dressed like a peacock and trumpeting in a peacock's shrill unpleasant tone to everyone in sight about his grand act of heroism? That would be a lot more like him than this...almost hangdog look he was wearing, as if he was expecting to be scolded for something. She really had to talk to him. Soon.

But she didn't even say good morning to him, or he to her. Eve frowned.

"I don't know," Nebula said. "What do you think, studm--Joxer."

"About what?" He approached the table cautiously and sat down, as if expecting one or the other of them to bite.

"If Khalil acted alone."

"I don't see how he couldn't have. Everyone seems honestly shocked by the break with tradition. At least that I've heard."

"Still," said Xena, "I think it would be best if you were to have a guard on you at all times until it's over. For all we know, someone might think executing a crown prince is just as taboo as murdering a queen. I'll stay with you nights, and get someone you trust--and someone who's good--to stay by you during the day."

"Suleiman," said Joxer.

"No. Suleiman's too valuable in the field," Nebula said, "and I need him to tell me what the Houses are doing. How about Benar, or--"

"Gabrielle," Xena said firmly. "She's alert, smart, the most capable fighter you have aside from me and Suleiman--and if there are any more conspirators, they might dismiss her for being an outlander and a woman, and become careless."

Nebula frowned. "But--"

"But nothing. Didn't you bring us here just for this purpose?" Gabrielle was unquestionably the best choice after Xena herself or Suleiman, and it wouldn't hurt either of them to have the Queen showing favor to the woman who saved her life. And Gabrielle would be forced to get over whatever enmity she might have with Nebula, as well--and any overreaction she might be having because of it and taking it out on poor Jox. Xena watched all this pass across Nebula's face in an instant. The woman was canny, and tricky, and willing to suppress personal feelings for the sake of effectiveness. Xena respected her highly for it. It took Nebula only a moment to make the decision. "Gabrielle it is, then. I'll have the Guard bring her and Suleiman here, and we'll talk over how we're going to work this out. Joxer, I want you at every Court between now and the execution. Up on the dais, where I can talk to you. I'll make the announcement about appointing you to Vizier at the public audience this afternoon--I want you there, too--and I want Gabrielle in place by then as well. The best thing to do in a situation like this is to establish everything quickly, before people have time to get their bearings again, and go forward." She rolled up the scrolls. "I also want you and Blondie--" she looked at Xena--"Gabrielle, excuse me, she reads, doesn't she? to go over the laws in your spare time. See if there's anything we might miss in making the preparations. I want this done perfectly, every tradition fulfilled, every god appeased, every single stupid footstep of every single stupid ritual done to the letter. If I have to do it then, by the gods of the deep, I'm going to do it right. Now..." She looked around the room. "Who did I leave out? Oh." She reached into her belt-pouch and pulled out a dried fig. "Eve, I'm appointing you Royal Guardian Of The Candy. I expect you to test it regularly for quality, you got that?" Eve cooed greedily, and Nebula handed her the fig. "Shhh," she said. "Don't tell your mom." She walked back across the room to the door, opened it and spoke softly to the guards.

Xena and Joxer sat at the table and did not quite look at each other. There were a dozen things Xena wanted to ask him, and every single one of them was a touchy subject. What was up or not up with him and Nebula? Was he okay with this business with Gabrielle? Why wasn't he willing to look at her lately? And most of all, how was he holding up? And she couldn't ask that, because to ask that would mean to admit she knew, and to admit she knew... She knew what Joxer was like, she knew how sensitive he was about his image. He'd never be able to live it down if he thought she knew. It was best not to mention it. Yes, absolutely. Best not to mention it, because he'd maintain his dignity that way, and after a while, he'd get over it. Warriors usually did. And Joxer had a warrior's heart, deep down. He'd work past it.

And it was just best for her not to say anything.

Eve made an unhappy noise. Xena jiggled her slightly, but the baby fussed and refused to be comforted. "Maybe she's hungry," Joxer said, and looked as if he'd startled himself with his own words.

"She's just fussing. Babies fuss." Although Eve never did. Xena frowned at her daughter, and Eve frowned back, mimicking her mother, almost as if she was trying to--Nebula came back to the table. "Suleiman and Gabrielle will be along shortly," she said, then looked from one to the other and cranked an eyebrow. "Am I interrupting something?"

"No." Xena glanced at Joxer's face, turned slightly away from her, and something missing from his aura that should be there. "Nothing at all."